Lon Hosford, President, told the club members pictures taken during past club meetings or events are now available for members to view. He thanked Paul Glattstein for making this possible by putting the pictures on the web site http://picasaweb.google.com/hccphoto10 Pics. The photos are set up by the date the photo was taken. Check it out to see past and current members of the club.
If you have photos that were taken at club meetings or events that you would like added to the site, just send them to Paul at hccphoto10@gmail.com .  Please include comments for each photo and where and when they were taken and the names of the people in the picture. Paul will add them to the directory. Last names of club members will be omitted since the site is public. If you have any questions or comments about this, you can contact Paul Glattstein at any HCC meeting or email the question to hccphoto10@gmail.com .
The December 13 meeting will be a holiday party and will be held at the Hunterdon Medical Center as usual. The party will be held in the back room as last year. Bring something to share if you wish. The Q&A will still be held.
This year it was suggested and approved that members bring in a small, inexpensive gift to be given out when the 50/50 is held. Those that don’t bring a gift don’t have to take a gift.
The club presentation schedule through April, 2009, is also available on the HCC website.
Q&A
Q:Â Google Docs, what is it?
A: There are versions of software that can be used for presentations word documents, spreadsheets and forms are available in Google Docs.  You can collaborate right on the website. You can use Google Chat for instant messaging. You do not need Excel to use Google Docs, but you can import to Google Docs. It is very useful, but not as powerful as MS Office. The software does have a locking ability and a read-only ability. Video conferencing is now also available and it is free. We are planning to have presentations to the club on these topics in the future.
Q: Many people are getting rid of their telephone land line. How do you get an internet connection if you only have a cell phone?
A: There may be bare wire DSL available through Embarq. You may also be able to use a cable connection and FIOS. There is also a Magic Jack that can be purchased for $20 a year.
Q:  I have a 3-year old laptop and the power cord is frayed. Is it possible to buy a jack for it?
A: You possibly can get a new jack at RadioShack. You could also try some epoxy to glue it back together. Also you can try getting a multimeter to see whether it is the jack or the power supply.
Q: I am using Vista Home Premium. The computer goes into sleep mode and I can’t get it out and then I have to shut it down to reboot. Sometimes it will reboot on its own.
What can I do?
A: Avoid the sleep mode and turn off the computer when not using it. Closing the lid of a laptop does not put it into sleep mode and it will restore itself properly. You can also reinstall the software from the hard drive.
Presentation:Â Genealogy, Carol Myer
Carol Myer has long been working on her family’s genealogy and has found many resources, websites, and even forms that she shared with the club members. Researching and documenting your family’s genealogy and history will satisfy your curiosity about family members, where they were born, where they lived, how many children were in the family, who they married and when they died. You can use this information to learn about your family’s history; to track down members of the family in the local area; create gifts for your family, children and grandchildren; and possibly even find out about medical problems in your background.
Carol Myer has long been working on her family’s genealogy and has found many resources, websites, and even forms that she shared with the club members. Researching and documenting your family’s genealogy and history will satisfy your curiosity about family members, where they were born, where they lived, how many children were in the family, who they married and when they died. You can use this information to learn about your family’s history; to track down members of the family in the local area; create gifts for your family, children and grandchildren; and possibly even find out about medical problems in your background.  Carol suggested that the Hunterdon County Library offers a wonderful resource by providing access to Ancestry Plus, Heritage Plus and several other websites. Free access to Ancestry Plus is available through the computers at the Hunterdon County Library, and the North County and the South County branches. Heritage Plus can be used from your home computer. Both websites require you to enter the bar code from your Hunterdon County library card.
The first stop when researching your family history is to access the Census records. These records contain a lot of detailed information about the person; such as, date of birth, nationality, were they naturalized, did they speak English, among other details.
The Social Security Death Index (SSDI); Family Search, managed by the Mormon Church, http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ , http://www.cyndislist.com/ ; http://www.genealogy.com/index_n.html ; www.ristenbatt.com/genealogy ; http://www.usgenweb.com/ ; http://www.genhomepage.com/ are among many other helpful genealogy websites Carol recommended.
When researching data from your family’s history, one of the biggest problems is keeping the information organized so it doesn’t become overwhelming and can quickly be found and compared to other information. From her experience, Carol had the following suggestions:
·        Include the source of the information on your records so you will know where it was found,
·        If you are using a book, copy the cover of the book and the page number where the information was found;
·        List the person’s name and birth date to be able to distinguish family members with the same or similar names;
·        Use a printed form to initially document the information on each family member
·        Prepare a form in Word and transfer the information from the paper record into a file on Word. Use a separate form for each person and save the file with their name and birth date.
·        Scan all photos and documents and save on your computer.
·        Create a page for each family to list each family’s members.
Family Tree Maker software enables you to create a family tree, but it is best to create and save all your information on paper and Word forms first and then transfer the date to Family Tree Maker if you wish. Family Tree Maker can crash and you can lose all your information and will have to start over again.
Carol did a great job of providing some incentive and guidance on how to research our family history and members. Thanks, Carol, for this very informative and intriguing topic.